Method of playing poker games with multiple wild cards wherein a winning hand can only contain one wild card

ABSTRACT

A method of playing a poker game in which an initial hand of cards is dealt to players who are then granted a chance to place a wager or draw at least one additional card and then a final poker hand is ultimately determined for each player. Any final poker hand with more than one wild card is declared a losing hand while the winning hand is any remaining hand having the highest ranking. The poker game can be a draw poker game, a stud poker game or a community card poker game and a non-winning hand may have to pay a losing calling penalty in some circumstances based upon the ranking of the winning hand.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Serial No. U.S. Ser. No. 12/074,184, filed Feb. 29, 2008, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/479,554, filed Jun. 29, 2006, entitled “Yangtze Hold'em and Other Poker Games Played with a Chinese Poker Deck,” now U.S. Pat. No. 7,360,763, as well as a continuation of U.S. application Serial No. U.S. Ser. No. 11/484,043, entitled “The East-West Casino,” which itself is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. Ser. No. 11/479,554, filed Jun. 29, 2006, entitled “Yangtze Hold'em And Other Poker Games Played With A Chinese Poker Deck,” both of which are continuation-in-part applications of U.S. Ser. No. 11/058,471 filed Feb. 14, 2005, entitled “Chinese Poker Deck,” all of which are specifically incorporated herein by reference.

The present application is also related to a co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 12/074,184, entitled “Method of Playing Yangtze Hold'em™ and Tibet High™ Poker Games, filed Feb. 29, 2008.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is in the field of methods of playing poker games.

BACKGROUND

The casino gaming industry continually seeks to invent new gambling games in order to add flare to the old standbys to keep the gaming interest of both old and new customers high in order to maintain and grow the revenues and profits for the industry.

As part of an effort to fuse Western gambling games and methods with Chinese culture, the present inventor developed a new deck of cards called the “Chinese Poker Deck” whose construct reflects not only its Western origin, but also allows the permeation of the culture and thinking of the East into same. After this new deck of cards was developed, the present inventor also developed methods of playing games using this deck and came up with a way the Chinese Poker Deck can be used to play games that are similar to poker games now played with the traditional International deck of cards having four suits (clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades) and thirteen cards in each suit (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K and A), but with the new Chinese Poker Deck. Critical to these new methods was the recognition that even though a deck of cards might have more than one wild card, only one wild card would be allowed to be in play in a given hand and, if a playing hand has too many wild cards, it would be declared a losing hand.

It is the foregoing critical recognition to which the present application is directed. While co-pending application Ser. No. 12/074,184 is more specifically directed to a Texas Hold'em style of game using the Chinese Poker Deck, the present application is not so limited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is generally directed to a method of playing a poker game in which an initial hand of cards is dealt to players who are then granted a chance to place a wager or draw at least one additional card and then a final poker hand is ultimately determined for each player. Any final poker hand with more than one wild card is declared a losing hand while the winning hand is any remaining hand having the highest ranking.

In a first, separate group of aspects of the present invention, the poker game can be a draw poker game, a stud poker game or a community card poker game.

In a second, separate group of aspects of the present invention, the deck of cards used to play the poker game can be a fifty-two card deck having a first group of suited cards, a second group of non-suited cards and a third group of wild cards found in Applicant's Chinese Poker Deck.

In a third, separate group of aspects of the present invention, a non-winning hand must pay a losing calling penalty in some circumstances based upon the ranking of the winning hand.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide new poker games that play with the same rules as existing poker games with the addition of use of a new deck of cards called the Chinese Poker Deck and certain additional rules related to the differences between a traditional deck of poker cards and the Chinese Poker Deck.

This and further objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art in connection with the drawings and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment set forth below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. A flow chart showing a method of playing a poker game according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to poker games, and variations of poker games, in which multiple wild cards are found in the deck (or multiple decks of cards used in a shoe) but only one such card is allowed to play in a hand. If a hand has too many wild cards, then the hand is declared a losing hand even though it might otherwise have a higher ranking than another hand. For example, if a first player is playing five card draw and has five cards, none of which are the same, in sequence or of the same suit, while the second player has a pair of wild cards, another pair of cards and one additional card, the first player would win the hand, even though the second player has a higher ranking hand even without using a wild card (because a pair beats one of a kind in a traditional poker ranking), since the second player has a losing hand due to the rule that one of the wild cards cannot be used, thus leaving the second player with only four cards, which creates a losing hand.

Thus, although wild cards can be a very good thing, too much of a good thing can be very bad for a hand, and this is what gives hope to a player who does not have a wild card (especially in a poker game with community cards), and also tempers the enthusiasm of a player who does have a wild card.

The Chinese Poker Deck has 5 wild cards in a deck of 52 cards, and it has been found that this combination works well, especially in connection with the unique composition of the Chinese Poker Deck which has a first group of suited cards in three suits (circles, bamboo and scripts), each of which has one of nine identical number designations forming a sequential order (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9), a second group of non-suited cards having five sets of four identical non-suited cards, each having its own unique designation (East Wind, South Wind, West Wind, North Wind and a Green Dragon), and a third group of 5 wild cards which also carry a Feng Shui designation.

The present invention is not meant to be limited only to poker games with community cards (since it can also be used in stud or draw poker games) or even to games with two or more players. It is suitable for use in poker tournaments and in situations where one player is a machine or the house. Also, while traditional poker games typically follow a traditional poker ranking of cards (from highest to lowest, as follows: straight flush, four of a kind hand, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair and high card), high-low and low games are also commonly played, and all such games can be played according to the present invention.

Thus, while the invention has been described herein with reference to certain embodiments, those embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and not to limit the scope of the invention. Additional embodiments thereof will be obvious to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this detailed description. Further modifications are also possible in alternative embodiments without departing from the inventive concept.

Accordingly, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that still further changes and modifications in the actual concepts described herein can readily be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosed inventions as defined by the following claims. 

1: A method of playing a poker game using at least one deck of playing cards wherein at least two players are given a chance to make a poker hand of cards, the method comprising the steps of: dealing an initial hand of cards to the at least two players from the at least one deck of playing cards; granting the at least two players a chance to place a wager or draw at least one additional card; determining a final poker hand for each of the at least two players; determining whether any final poker hand has more than one wild card and, if it does, declaring any such hand a losing hand; declaring a winning hand to be the final poker hand having a highest ranking that is not a losing hand; and settling any wagers. 2: The method of claim 1, wherein the game is a draw poker game. 3: The method of claim 1, wherein the game is a stud poker game. 4: The method of claim 1, wherein the game is a community card poker game. 5: The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one deck of playing cards has five wild cards. 6: The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one deck of playing cards is comprised of a first group of suited cards, a second group of non-suited cards and a third group of wild cards. 7: The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one deck of playing cards is comprised of fifty-two cards. 8: The method of claim 7, wherein the first group of suited cards is comprised of three suits, each of which has one of nine identical number designations, the nine number designations forming a sequential order, the second group of non-suited cards is comprised of five sets of four identical non-suited cards, each of the five sets having its own unique designation and the third group of wild cards is comprised of five wild cards. 9: The method of claim 8, wherein the nine identical number designations are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 and the three suits are comprised of a circle designation, a bamboo designation and a script designation and wherein four of the unique designations of the five sets of four identical non-suited cards are an East Wind designation, a South Wind designation, a West Wind designation and a North Wind designation. 10: The method of claim 8, wherein the highest ranking is determined based upon a poker ranking of hands, from highest to lowest, as follows: a straight flush hand of five number designations from the first group of suited cards in a consecutive sequence; a four of a kind hand; a full house hand comprised of a three of a kind and two of a kind; a flush hand comprised of five number designations from the first group of suited cards in a single suit in a non-consecutive sequence; a straight hand comprised of five number designations from the first group of suited cards in more than a single suit in a consecutive sequence; a three of a kind hand; a two pair hand comprised of a pair of two of a kind; a pair hand comprised of a single pair of two of a kind; and a high card hand comprised of none of the above hands; wherein any of the four of a kind, three of a kind and two of a kind are made by having an x number of identical non-suited cards or x cards with identical number designations from the first group of suit cards, the x being the number of a kind; and wherein one wild card can be designated to represent any card in either the first group of suited cards or the second group of non-suited cards. 11: The method of claim 10, wherein a non-winning hand must pay a losing calling penalty if the winning hand has a winning ranking. 12: The method of claim 11, wherein the non-winning hand does no have to pay the losing calling penalty if the non-winning hand has the same ranking as the winning hand. 13: The method of claim 11, wherein the losing calling penalty is an amount of a last bet that was called if the winning hand is a flush hand, twice the amount of the last bet that was called if the winning hand is a full house hand, three times the amount of the last bet that was called if the winning hand is a four of a hand and four times the amount of the last bet that was called if the winning hand is a straight flush hand. 